Day 30

This morning I felt tired and felt just like skipping the whole thing. Then I grabbed my act together and thought "what a shame that would be" and did the sun salutations. A such a small thing is easy to do !

Days 28 & 29

Monday: just the short 15 min sun sals at home + a super relax pose laying down feet against the wall and pillow under pelvis. Almost replaces going back to bed.

Today, full primary, very carefully carried out. Shoulder is a little sore, and I didn't get fingers together in Supta Kurmasana. With Teacher it went fine. Instead of headstand, I did the two chairs facing and head in-between. It hit's well the stiff muscles called trapezis or something.

Daily - even brief - practice is doing miracles

Day 27, Sunday
Friday and Saturday mornings I did only the brief sun sal -routine.
Today I went to the - ah so wonderful - Sunday morning mysore at the Yoga School. We were about 15. The crowd and the fact that there is plenty of time and no work to go to, makes the Sunday mysores very pleasant.
Today I did my max load, first time since some time in mid-December. The max means up to Kapotasana, which was the best ever. Usually I am struggling very much, and still, so, but this was clearly the best. I am sure thanks to the little daily practice!
After practice, late breakfast with the girls, which makes the second treat of the day!

Day 25 Getting used to this

This morning's short practice started very slow and stiff... I am little by little learning not to be in a hurry and not to look at the time every minute. After all, who cares if I am at work at 8 or 8.10 ?

My Hubby managed to say something irritating between sun sals 3 and 4, and that p...ed me off so that the rest went fast and I got almost out of breath and got a little sweat going! So thank you, Hubby! Then i did some hatha style stretchings on the floor and life was beautiful again.

Day 24: Full First Series

... oh, it's been long since I last did the full first.

The Teacher is back, and for me it's "back to normal routine now", end with the whining and fussing around. Full practice min two, rather 3-4 times a week, and gradually back to the beginning of 2nd series when I feel ready.

But I like the daily 10-minute morning sun sal routine. I think I'll try to keep it going even after the WoYoPracMo! It feels different to go to work after that: somehow the bones are in better places.

I got the stick today! During Urdhva Dhanurasana, the Teacher was pointing at the place of attention in my back by holding a stick under my back: somewhere between the kidneys and shoulder blades.

Day 21

At least finding titles for the blogs is very easy this month!

Last week's practice diary was as follows: 16th and 17th "almost full practice", 18th and 19th the very short, 20th Body Flow (1,5 hours led) and today 21th the short-but-not-the shortest practice. And tomorrow, when I was counting to go to the School for a full practice and finally see my Teacher after his trip to India, it's moon day... For some bizarre reason I can't find the discipline to keep it going at home: as soon as I get a little tired, I stop. At school I continue.

Any tips how to avoid giving up easily at home ?

Day 16 and still kickin'

Actually I am practicing less than during my active periods of "normal" training rhythm.
My morning mysore is normally 2,5 hours, and now, due to the last week of the holiday season, it is only 2 hours. And I am still lazy from Christmas holidays.

But I am practicing every day. Not much but every day. Between today and last Thursday, the practice was really 15-20 minutes of sun sals, trikonasana, forward bending and headstand. That's not bad either.

Almost full first seems like huge physical effort, so the condition is going down with these light practices.

Day 10: one third already in the pocket!

This is not so hard, actually. I wasn't at all sure how I'd manage when I decided to do the WoYoPracMo (or something...).

Today was morning mysore. Spent a little more time with the Replacement Teacher in some sitting asanas. And I got to teach a little, too: I got to teach her how I like to be assisted in kurmasana and supta kurmasana. This sounds not very respectful, but she said she doesn't know that well, since her normal students aren't there yet. Well, that's about how far I got today. I don't like the holiday season schedule; we start half an hour later than usually and I have to be at work at 9 anyway.

For the first time since Christmas, the practice was light and I felt like moving well.

A Refreshing Treat at Noon

Day 9 practice was a discreet slipping away from the office and doing a 1.5 hour Bodyflow class at 11:00. That was nice!

Day 8

Lazyness in waking up this morning cost me 10 minutes in bed, which meant a bus 15 minutes later, which meant the start of practice 15 minutes later, which actually cost me the last part of first series!

Anyway, it was a very necessary practice since I was stiff from Sunday's practice.

Day 7

Yesterday's class was a 1,5-hour led Bodyflow, which takes elements from ashtanga, pilates, among others. It was fun to do new stuff and not know what is coming next. It is also fun to realize how nul (I mean NIX, ZERO) strength and coordination is, when it comes to any position that's not in the ashtanga sequence. Then again, some exercises were soooo easy (those from ashtanga, of course). But I am a little sore from some parts today.

Day 7 today was a quick sun-sals at home before rushing to work.

Missed yesterday - the blogging, not the yoga

Friday, day 4, was tough. I managed to do my little bit of yoga in two parts. We are counting minutes, here. Does thinking of yoga count?

Day 5 was a nice and solid, but quite brief practice. Sun-sals, some standing and a couple of sitting asanas followed by a brief sitting-and-breathing. I wouldn't call it meditation, however.

Day 6 will be a led class at another school.

Day 3

Day three of my "yoga month" was a normal Thursday morning mysore practice at the School. First series only, since there has been a slight slipping-out of the routine. Our Teacher is in India and the teacher was one of my co-ashtangis. Since we were not very many, the feeling was intimate, warm and nice.

Maybe this becomes my "write my blog every day month" too?

Pushing aside those Christmas chocolates in the tummy ...

Day 2

Just quick sun salutations, since had to wake up and go to work (you remember...). But the day isn't finished yet.

Yoga Month

I started the Yoga Month today by a beautiful 20-minute sun sals and some other stuff, and to motivate myself, even joined the WoYoPracMo. I followed it last year thinking "what the heck is that again, the Americans just love being social"... and here I am. I guess I have so little social life left that I have to do it online.

My objective is to do the "official minimum" of 10 minutes every day, including Saturdays and moon days, but modifying the practice according to my feelings/time available. There will be my usual 2-3 full 2-hour practices a week, and instead of doing nothing the rest of the days, I will do just the sun salutations or just the standing asanas or whatever I feel like. For over six months I have been planning to practice at least the suns every day, instead of the full practice only. I am confident that a smaller portion which is done regularly will bring better results (whatever those are) and is healthier for the body and mind.

By the way, the official abbreviation of the WoYoPracMo is completely unmemorisable! Please let's make it Yoga Month, simple and beautiful. Please?